Friday, June 23, 2006

Maybe votes on amendments were more important than final vote on new electric rates legislation

I notice that the local press lists how our county legislators voted on final passage of the just-enacted and subsequently vetoed rate legislation. More telling of their interest in protecting consumers, I contend, were their individual votes on a couple of identical amendments introduced first in the Senate by Senator Pinsky (D-22/PG Co.) and then in the House by Delegate Hubbard (D-23A/PG Co.) that sought to permit counties or municipal corporations to act as aggregators on behalf of consumers. Unfortunately, these amendments were rejected in the Senate by 13-34 and in the House by 55-73. All three Howard County Senators (Kittleman, Kasemeyer, and Schrader) voted NO. In the House, Delegates Bates, Miller, DeBoy, and Malone also voted NO while Delegates Bobo, Pendergrass, Quinter, and Turner voted YES. The final vote in each body just tells you who accepted the overall compromise. The source of this information is the Legislative Services website www.mlis.state.md.us and it is also the source for the Hubbard amendment which is printed out from it below:

SB0001/403823/1

BY: Delegate Hubbard

AMENDMENTS TO SENATE BILL NO. 1

(Third Reading File Bill)

AMENDMENT NO. 1

On page 1, in line 24, after "provisions;" insert "repealing a certain prohibition on a county or a municipal corporation acting as an aggregator unless the Commission makes a certain determination;".

On page 3, after line 42, insert:

"BY repealing

Article - Public Utility Companies

Section 7-510(f)

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1998 Volume and 2005 Supplement)".

AMENDMENT NO. 2

On page 9, after line 30, insert:

"[(f)A county or municipal corporation may not act as an aggregator unless the Commission determines there is not sufficient competition within the boundaries of the county or municipal corporation.]".